Greg Monroe and the Phoenix Suns have agreed upon a buyout.
Monroe is expected to receive significant interest from multiple teams for a contract for the remainder of the season.
Monroe was traded to the Suns by the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this season in the Eric Bledsoe trade.
The Pelicans, Spurs, Wizards and Celtics are amongst the teams interested in Monroe.
Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Jonathan Givony of ESPN (@DraftExpress) go in-depth on his scouting process and the 2018 Draft.
They discuss how Givony chooses what events to cover, the value of interviews, potential #1 picks in this draft and much more.
With a number of injuries hitting the Los Angeles Clippers this season, they have relied upon strong play from their entire roster, including players on two-way contracts.
Tyrone Wallace and C.J. Williams have been key to the Clippers.
“The two-way contracts have been a godsend,” Doc Rivers told The Crossover. “Without the two-ways and without our G-League team [the Agua Caliente Clippers], we’d probably be in last place. And that’s not an overstatement.”
“When the two-way came out, that was the impetus for us to get a G-League team,” Lawrence Frank said. “For years, we were hit with the criticism that young players don’t get a chance to play for the Clippers. Our thinking [in the past] was just that we always had better players in front of them. We had wanted a G-League team for years but now we would have been at a competitive disadvantage if we didn’t have one.”
The NBA and NBPA decided that each two-way contract player signed early in the season could have a maximum of 45 “countable days” with the NBA team, with a “countable day” applying to game days, practice days and travel days. The rest of the player’s time was to be spent with the G-League affiliate.
The Clippers have been trying to limit the "countable days" for their two-way players. The Clippers are so careful with Wallace’s “countable days” that he often is held out of practices.
According to Frank, “it’s probably fair to say” that L.A.’s two-way players have “been worth five wins” this season.
“The biggest tweak they need to make is to stop counting travel days,” Rivers said. “I think they should only count game days. That would help the players. We’re doing silly things like sending guys to the G-League for practice and bringing them back for games. Tyrone had to fly on the day of the Utah game and he’s missed two or three practices. He’s only 23. He has a chance to be a heck of an NBA player. He shouldn’t be missing those days.”
The Chicago Bulls will keep Nikola Mirotic from playing in Wednesday's game and presumably through the trade deadline on Feb. 8th.
The Bulls are attempting to trade Mirotic, who can veto a trade.
Chicago and the Pelicans were close to a trade of Mirotic this week.
Blake Griffin didn't negotiate a no-trade clause in his new contract with the Clippers and was traded in the first year of the deal. Stephen Curry similarly signed a new contract with the Warriors in the offseason and he also doesn't own a no-trade clause.
Curry was asked about not having the no-trade on Tuesday.
“Just a negotiation situation,” Curry said. “Obviously, it'd be nice to have one, but it wasn't in the cards. For me, I don't say I regret not getting one.”
Curry said the two sides “talked about it a little bit,” but ultimately agreed against adding a no-trade clause.
“They try to set a precedent that nobody gets one around here,” Curry told The Athletic. “But you would hope situations that happened with Blake don't happen with this team.”
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki are the only players in the NBA with a no-trade clause.
Curry won't have the same leverage as those three players.
“But it's part of the NBA, man,” Curry said. “It's been that way forever. I'd hope that down the line in my career I play well enough to have winning ways and we continue to do what we've been doing and things will happen according to our successes as I go through the rest of the five years in my contract.”
Rasual Butler and his wife were killed in a single car crash in Studio City, California early Wednesday morning.
Butler lost control of his Range Rover around 2 AM, causing the car to flip and then it struck a parking meter and slammed into a wall.
Butler was drafted in the second round in 2002 by the Heat and played in the NBA until 2016.
Butler most recently played in Ice Cube's BIG3 league.
The Los Angeles Clippers were aggressive in their pursuit of a Blake Griffin trade before settling on a deal with the Pistons.
"They offered him around to everybody," said Royce Young on The Hoop Collective podcast.
"I don't know if that's true," replied Brian Windhorst.
"I mean I know they made calls to Oklahoma City for Paul George," Young said. "I'm pretty sure they made calls to Minnesota for players, so I mean, like, they tried to get some bigger name players. It just wasn't happening."
Griffin is from Oklahoma and had long been linked to the Thunder.
George will be a free agent in 2018 and was a Clippers' fan growing up outside Los Angeles.
LeBron James believes there is a double standard when it comes to players leaving a franchise in free agency compared to teams trading players.
James' comments came following the Clippers' trade of Blake Griffin to the Pistons.
"When a player gets traded, [the front office] was doing what was best for the franchise," James said. "But when a player decides to leave, he's not loyal, he's a snake, he's not committed.
"That's the narrative of how it goes. I know that firsthand."
James left the Cavaliers for the Heat in 2010 and then returned to Cleveland in 2014.
James said he was "a little bit in shock" when he learned that Griffin, who re-signed with the Clippers on a five-year, $173 million deal this past summer, had been traded after spending his first seven-plus seasons in Los Angeles.
"But you know the business, as unfortunate as it looks," James said. "You know the business. It is what it is."
The Boston Celtics have decided not to sign Jarell Eddie to a second 10-day contract at this time.
The Celtics prefer to have flexibility heading to the trade deadline with an open roster spot.
Eddie appeared sparingly in two games with the Celtics.
Eddie spent parts of the 15-16 and 16-17 season with the Wizards.
The Philadelphia 76ers have interest in trading for Tyreke Evans.
Evans signed a one-year, $3.3 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies in the offseason, which he has easily outperformed. Evans is averaging 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
The Grizzlies are seeking a first round pick for Evans, which the 76ers are reluctant to part with.
Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Grizzlies will sit Evans until he's traded or until after the deadline.
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